Episode VII: Fall of the Empire
by The Psyche
Summary: Alternative story of the events after Return of the Jedi. Internal strife is destroying the Galactic Empire from within, while the Rebel Alliance is hot on the trail of the hidden Imperial Starfleet. Princess Leia Organa has received notice that a decorated Imperial leader wishes to defect to the Rebellion, and hopes that their information can aid the Rebels' cause.
1. 1

_**The Galactic Empire is in disarray.**_  
 _ **With the Rebel Alliance's sights set on overtaking the Imperial capitol of CORUSCANT, planets throughout the galaxy are rallying to join the cause.**_

 _ **With the aid of veteran Rebel fighter LUKE SKYWALKER, the Imperial Starfleet has been chased to the far reaches of the galaxy and now remains hidden.**_

 _ **Amongst the conflict, one decorated Imperial leader wishes to defect to the Rebellion. Princess LEIA ORGANA hopes this will offer vital information in defeating the Empire once and for all…**_

The malachite colored orb of Dantooine had a milky haze swathed around its surface. It was the fourth planet in the system of the same name, which sat on the fringes of the Raioballo sector. It was a desolate part of the galaxy, and didn't see much in the way of galactic traffic. To some, it was a particularly beautiful region of space, with the sun Dina shedding its light on the close-quarters sibling planets of Camooine and Bannakon – though to some species the vibrant hues of blue and green were nothing but nausea-inducing.

Where the daylight of Dantooine met shadow, a dagger-shaped contraption rested like a camouflaged predator waiting to pounce. It was a twisted titan comprised of multi-layered ferroceramic plating, jagged and unnatural in shape – such were the traits of an Imperial -class Star Destroyer. It once epitomized the face of the Galactic Empire, but now such a flagship was only a mere reminder that they were not completely eradicated from the galaxy. From the underside of the Star Destroyer's hull appeared a small white dot, glistening with reflections as it lowered itself from its mothership at an unhurried pace. At least, that's what it looked like from a hundred klicks away.  
Upon closer inspection, the vessel was a Lambda-class Imperial transport shuttle that the Star Destroyer had deposited in its slow-moving wake. Accompanying the shuttle were two TIE Fighters, dark in colour and nearly impossible to see from a reasonable distance. The boxy-looking craft were positioned on both the port and starboard of the shuttle, and their twin-ion engines emitted a mechanical roar that overpowered any noise the shuttle may have been generating.  
The shuttle itself had long, triangular wings that were folded upward and directed inward toward the center of the ship. As it moved farther away however, the wings rolled outward and extended beneath the belly of the ship with a supplementary robotic sigh. The shuttle then suddenly gained speed and with its entourage, thrusted forward toward the creamy green skies of Dantooine. Soon, all that could be seen from the Star Destroyer's position in space was a single white dot fading into the planet's obscurity.

With the TIE Fighters' distance from the shuttle mathematically sound to the port and starboard, the trio of craft were quickly consumed by the planet's spatial jurisdiction – the only view available from inside the cockpits would have been the vague shapes of Dantooine's numbered but sprawling continents.

But it was then, when the journey of the Imperial convoy took an unexpected turn. Flashing across the port side of the shuttle was an enfilade of splattering crimson laser fire. The beads of red moved quickly enough that the naked eye could barely trace them and soon enough were piercing the hull of the TIE Fighter on the starboard side. The blasts first chewed holes through the diamond-shaped wing, before ripping through into the central ball that was the starfighter's cockpit. The pilot inside would have died instantly, shortly before the craft became a spinning ball of orange and red flame. Although the explosion was short lived as the vacuum of space extinguished all possibilities of an encore, another would soon be present. The remaining TIE Fighter had only started to break away from the shuttle in a desperate effort to evade the enemy laser bolts when it too was sent to oblivion.  
Following the shuttle's wake, which was still unscathed, two Rebel X-wing snubfighters crossed paths and began an arc that would eventually loop them back onto the tail of the shuttle. They were odd-looking craft only to those that weren't familiar with the exploits of the Rebel Alliance, for these snubfighters were used in almost every instance of space combat between the Empire and the aforementioned Rebels. The nose of the fighters were both long and thin, sporting a red stripe and small Rebel logo in the shape of a crescent. The stern of the ship was constructed in an 'X' like its namesake, with four wings protruding in all directions at forty-five degree angles. Aligning the end of each wing was a laser cannon, the source of the TIE Fighters' destruction.  
The Lambda -class shuttle still remained untouched as the Rebel fighters circled around and set the Imperial target in their sights. But they did not fire.

Emerging from behind the dual X-wings, was a formation of three other Rebel ships similar in aesthetic but different in shape. These ships were much more robust, with the cockpits at the front of the vessel followed by two thick stems containing the sublight engines. The ships emitted a whine as they gained on the shuttle, and the X-wings seemed to clear a path that gave them a direct line of sight to the target. The Y-wings, as they were called, tightened up their formation and levelled with the stern of the shuttle so a perfect horizontal line could be drawn between them. It was then that the Y-wings released their answer to the X-wings' cannon fire, a shimmering sapphire bolt of energy. They fired a handful of times each, and soon the shuttle was victim to a splattering of blue ion cannon fire. These blasts wouldn't damage the ship in a physical sense, but they would render its internal flight systems useless. It wasn't long before the shuttle came to a complete halt, and those inside were now defenceless. The shuttle rolled up on its starboard wing and drifted toward Dantooine, soon to be at the mercy of the planet's gravitational pull should the Rebels not have intervened further.

Intervene further they did, as a looming shadow crept over the hull of the shuttle. The ship became engulfed in black, as the red and white mother ship of the Rebel snubfighters crept overhead. Using an invisible tractor beam, the bigger ship clutched the shuttle and drew it in. The now upside down Imperial ship was powerless to resist.

The bigger ship in question was a CR90 Corellian Corvette – also known as a blockade runner – named the Zurillion VI. The CR90s weren't traditionally large enough to contain a docking bay to house other spacecraft, but in this particular instance one had been outfitted in the abdominal region of the ship's underside. It stuck out like an ugly power generator fastened to the udder of a Kyluukian dhulbeest, but its purpose was in functionality over aesthetic. The inside of it was littered with raised platforms for aircraft boarding and crates of munitions to be supplied to Rebel outposts on the outer rim, but the central ferrocrete deck was void of any equipment – with the exception of its current occupant, the Lambda -class transport shuttle. The Zurillion VI had levelled the ship's angle using its tractor beam, and its landing gear had already been manually lowered. This was odd, as it was unheard of that any Imperial vessel would be willingly boarded by the Rebellion.  
Rebel soldiers quickly filled the docking bay, pouring from all available access tunnels. Their combat-grade boots clanged on the ship floor as they ran accompanied by the rustling and jingling of their attached gear. A mass of bodies surrounded the shuttle in an almost perfect circle, as if they'd rehearsed this for a complete lunar cycle. All blaster pistol barrels faced the hidden boarding ramp of the shuttle, ready to open fire on a moments' notice.  
"Hold" a voice sounded over the disciplined silence once all the troops were positioned. Through the sea of pale green uniforms and at times, patchy armor, an aisle of bodies parted as a human woman dressed in white made her way through the crowd. She was followed by her bodyguard, a solidly built Iridonian Zabrak holding a rifle that rivalled the size of any other weapon in the room. As the soldiers near the front of the crowd parted, Princess Leia Organa came through and stood before the shuttle, eyeing it closely. There was an alert anxiousness in her eyes, as the thought of several possibilities swept through her head like laser bolts. Her chestnut hair was tied back, wrapped around her head tightly as if every intention had been made to prevent a single strain from slipping down inadvertently. The white vest she wore was interwoven with a complicated zigzag pattern with a single Rebellion insignia atop the left breast, both prestigious and a sign of authority.  
"Captain?" she asked, not breaking her eye-line with the shuttle.  
"Confirmed your highness – all systems aboard the shuttle are disabled" came back a voice.  
"Lower the boarding ramp" Leia ordered hastily.  
"Lowering" returned a different voice. Two troops approached the shuttle from either side and each placed a small, stumpy device on the grey underside of the hull. When activated by a remote device, there was a quick spark and the boarding ramp dropped from the shuttle abruptly. It crashed on the floor of the docking bay hard enough that it would have left a large indent. With unrelenting pace, Rebel soldiers flooded into the shuttle. Leia eyed their movements carefully before looking back at the Iridonian guard over her shoulder. She had noticed a squelch coming from the comlink attached to his headset. The communication device was surely customized to fit around the complicated structure of the Iridonian's head, as the species by nature produced thorny stalagmite-like protrusions from their skulls. His beady yellow eyes flashed in her direction as he held a russet hand up to his ear.  
"Star Destroyer, headed our way. We're out of time" he said clearly. The entire docking bay heard him. Leia nodded. She had expected this – not quite this soon, but had expected it nonetheless. The Star Destroyer on the far side of Dantooine would still be a few minutes out of range before they could fire upon the Zurillion VI, but time was of the essence.  
"They were closer than we thought. Set our course for the evacuation point" she told him. "Wait until they're within range, and get the backup squadrons to cover our escape vector."  
The Iridonian did not respond. Instead, he used his time to get back in contact with the bridge. Leia turned her attention back toward the shuttle.  
First came out the Imperial pilot and co-pilot, both human males – two crew was standard for a Lambda. They were dressed in black Imperial starfleet uniforms, each seemed to have a few decorations of war indicated by their varied colored insignias. Both had a blaster nozzles wedged in the crevices of their necks. Last was the guest of honour – an Imperial Grand Moff.

The Grand Moffs were the highest form governmental authority in the Galactic Empire. Previously, it was a power that was rivalled by only the Emperor himself; but since his rule had all but come to an end, the Grand Moffs now led what remained of the Empire.  
Leia eyed the figure that walked down the boarding ramp, held at gunpoint like the others. Although most of the Imperial administrative responsibilities were undoubtedly undertaken by males, this Grand Moff was a human woman. Her hair was a fiery vermilion not unlike the laser fire discharged from the Rebel snubfighters, cut short. Her skin was a deep brown, closer to the colour of Leia's eyes and hair than anything else in the ship. She was brought before Leia by the troops behind her, standing at least a full foot taller than the princess.  
"Grand Moff Aredis" Leia spoke.  
"An honour to meet your acquaintance, Princess" the Imperial replied, her voice deep and resonating. Their eyes locked – each one studying the other. The bright emerald eyes of the Imperial woman had a calmness about them which could not go unnoticed by Leia. The Alderaanian princess gestured toward the troops behind Aredis with a twitch of her head, and they moved to the front of the Grand Moff to place standard-issue energy binders around her wrists. Aredis appeared surprised, but quickly squashed her emotional response. Leia began walking toward the edge of the docking bay down the aisle clear of troops, and Aredis' new captors made an effort to follow suit – directing the Imperial to walk alongside the princess.  
"You'll forgive the reception. The Rebellion doesn't take any chances, not even these days" Leia said.  
"It is understandable. One can never be too careful."  
Leia's Iridonian guard picked up footpace as he reached the nearby access tunnel. He touched his headset to initiate a signal.  
"Prisoners are secure. Call in the backup and get us out of here."

Starlight twinkled along the curvature of Dantooine as the Star Destroyer soared through the system as fast as its engines would allow. The five Rebel snubfighters were maintaining a circuit in the vicinity of the Zurillion VI which was nearing the destination at which it could make the jump into hyperspace. It was only minutes off.  
Already the Star Destroyer had scrambled its TIE Fighter squadrons, sending a mass of grey buzzing worker bees across the axis of Dantooine to converge on the Rebel ships and pepper the Rebel ship with laserfire. Five small snubfighters and a Corellian Corvette were no match for a Star Destroyer boasting a wave of TIE Fighters.  
As they drew closer, the TIEs began to open fire on the Rebel convoy. Shards of glittering harlequin blades pierced through the blackness to wreak havoc on the defending X and Y-wings. Although shielded, under this magnitude of assault the small Rebel ships would not be in existence for much longer.

It was fortuitous for the Rebels that a collection of mixed snubfighters dropped out of hyperspace a few hundred klicks out on the far side of Dantooine before the situation turned dire. Miscellaneous ships of various shapes and colors poured into the fray. They resembled more a compilation of scrapheap amalgamations than a squadron of capable spacecraft. Leading the pack was yet another red and white X-wing fighter, noticeably further out front than all the others – but this one had something very different about it than its counterparts. It was piloted by Luke Skywalker.  
Inside the cockpit of his X-wing, Luke's cool blue eyes scanned the battlefield beneath the yellow-tinted blast-shield that framed the top of his face. It was attached to a battered and grazed Rebel fighter-pilot helmet that boasted many stories. It belonged to someone else once whom Luke did not know, and had only undergone a few minor modifications since. A few extra achievements painted near the back here and there, but it was mostly the same helmet he had been given before his life in a combat-capable spacecraft had even begun. Unapologetic Rebel logos decorated the top of the helmet, one on the left slant and one on the right, and a bold red and white stripe aligned the middle.  
"Cut across the middle, draw their fire away from the cruiser" he said over the comm channel. "Rogue Squadron, take point zero zero six, Red Squadron, you're with me."  
"Copy Red Leader" came another voice over the comms. Luke hammered in commands to his control console as his X-wing closed to within range of the attacking TIE Fighters. He lowered his voice as he spoke to his astromech droid, housed in a compartment topside of the X-wing.  
"Artoo, all shields double-front, but watch out for that crossfire – I'll leave it to you."  
R2-D2, a cylinder dome of blue and white, chirped a robotic confirmation of Luke's command. As per design of the X-wing, the droid's upper dome was raised up just enough from the hull of the X-wing so that his visual sensors could get a more up-close readout of combat situations. The compact head of the droid scanned back and forth in all directions, analysing all possible angles of enemy fire and developing complex mathematical formulas in which he could use to form a shield-distribution strategy for the upcoming battle. Artoo then looked back toward the stern of the craft, noticing that the other pilots of Red Squadron began to break off from the main group and follow Luke's X-wing as he turned. This created a perfect split down the middle of the group, as the rest of the fighters veered away on a right angle and approached the Star Destroyer.  
Luke noticed that the swarm of TIE Fighters had been alerted to their presence, and they began to divert their course from the escaping Zurillion VI. They would never catch it now. As the squadron of TIEs – separated into groups of four – turned to face the approaching fighters of Red Squadron, Luke lined up one of them in his sights and opened fire. Orange-red pellets streaked across the open space from all four wings of his craft. Before long, they were eating through the light and unshielded armor of the TIE. It exploded. Luke immediately banked his craft to starboard to avoid the retaliation fire from the deceased TIE's wingmates, and now the nose of his craft pointed toward a second group. He opened fire again, the crackling pop of his laser cannons reverberating through the cockpit and flashing bursts of light onto his face. The rest of Red Squadron followed suit, and it wasn't long before the Rebel and Imperial craft were completely interweaved with one another. Both harlequin and vermilion laserfire glittered through the dogfight in a spectacular display. The TIEs' numbers begun to decline.  
The Imperial Star Destroyer sat on the fringes of the entangled swarm and directed all turbolaser fire recklessly into the center of the conflict, willing to destroy both Rebel and Imperial ships to pick off what enemies they could. They were angry.  
"Rogue Leader, can you concentrate all your fire on the port side of that Destroyer? We just need a few more seconds."  
"Copy Luke" a squelched voice came back over the comms. It was a big ask –the Star Destroyer's turrets were both accurate and unrelenting, a deadly combination. Off his starboard side, Luke saw a group of X-wings take a tight turn out of the dogfight and line up in a scattered formation as they approached the blazing turrets of the dagger-shaped behemoth. There had to be at least twenty turrets strewn across the Star Destroyer surface at different angles and heights, and there were only about ten fighters taking them head on.  
"Steady Rogues, let's keep that space. Use a beta attack pattern" the same voice sounded through the comms. Luke bit his lower lip as he watched the assortment of Rebel fighters approach.  
"Thanks Wedge" he said. He watched as the Rogues closed in, some of them taking a few hits from the bright green laser fire en route. They banked, rolled and tried whatever manoeuvres they could, but that some fighters would take a blow to their shields was inevitable.  
A buzzing twitter out of Artoo brought Luke's attention back into the dogfight. Some harlequin laser fire flashed across his bow, and he rolled the X-wing up on its port side, turning hard. Ahead, he could see the Zurillion VI clear the battlefield and that the enemy laserfire was burning out before it could hit the ship.  
"Cruiser's out of range, let's get out of here" he informed the group. He checked the status of Artoo on his read-outs. "Artoo, lock in the location of the jump."  
"That's it Rogues, let's get clear" Wedge ordered his group. The fighters of Rogue Squadron scrambled away from the Star Destroyer. As the bow of the Imperial mothership turned to pursue them, some forward turrets caught the side of a Rebel Y-wing and disintegrated one of its sublight engines. There was a brief and desperate yell over the comms, and then nothing. This was followed by the dismemberment of the Rebel craft as it was ravaged by Imperial laserfire. It sparked and flashed orange for a passing moment before disappearing into nothing. Nobody said anything, and the Star Destroyer and TIEs continued their pursuits. Luke, hanging back in the dogfight as the other Rebel craft made for their escape trajectory, spotted the Zurillion VI far in the distance, as its engines flashed a magnificent burst or white. For a moment that he would have missed if he'd blinked, Luke saw the Corvette stretch out as if it were an elastic substance, and then launch forward into nothingness. It had made the jump to lightspeed.  
"Cruiser is clear" he said. Escaping X-wings and Y-wings, as well as some other craft, filled his viewport as they raced through space to the same spot the Zurillion VI had previously occupied. Their pink and red sublight engines dotted the darkness.

Observing the complexion of the soon-to-end battle from his cockpit, Luke felt a cold air fill his lungs and clench his insides. He gasped and jerked forward in his seat a little, inadvertently rocking the control yoke of his X-wing forward, sending the ship on a downward arc. The feeling only grew colder, till he felt the icy point pierce the front of his chest. There was nothing but his life support unit attached to his front, yet the presence felt as physically real as any injury he'd ever sustained.  
"Artoo!" he cried out to his droid, struggling to maintain control. "Take control of the ship!"  
Artoo squealed back at him as he did what his master asked and brought the X-wing back level with his ally craft. Luke clenched his chest and doubled-over, his helmet almost banging against the panel in front of him. Artoo inquired what was going on, but Luke could not reply – the air was being sucked out of him. Amongst his agony, he peeked up through the viewport to make sure his companions were well on their way out of the Dantooine system.  
"Luke, are you alright!?" a desperate Wedge asked.  
"Get clear! All craft get clear!" Luke screamed. It was a simple formula – if the Rebel snubfighters didn't leave the system, the Imperials would eventually destroy them all.  
Luke felt a gravitational force clutch on to him, and pull him to the left side of the cockpit. With what leeway his fastening harness would allow, his body flung up against the side of the viewport like a ragdoll and he cried with pain. When his eye line came back up to the front of the craft, he saw the remaining Rebel craft make the jump to lightspeed. They were safe. Artoo continued to squeal, warning him of the colossal amount of fighters behind him. It was too late – Luke had lost consciousness. The initial blasts of Imperial fire destroyed two of the four X-wing engines, and they fizzled out. As a result, the X-wing spun out of control and Artoo was forced to try and stabilize the balance of the craft. The astromech talked to himself in an effort to calm his overheating processors, and pointed the nose of the ship toward Dantooine while it spiralled violently. As he changed the ship's path, some laserfire screeched overhead and narrowly missed blowing the top off the droid. Another direct blast propelled the ship forward and it gained momentum, surging toward Dantooine's milky skies in a ball of sparks and the ship's miscellaneous systems started to fail. The gravitational pull of the planet finally started to take effect, and Artoo diverted what power the shields had left and dedicated it to the sublight engines to get them out of range faster. The port side wings were mostly intact and closed themselves up horizontal to the ship's body, connecting together. The starboard wings were skeletal representations of what they once were, with cables and pieces of substructure flying everywhere. They wouldn't move – and that was going to be a problem when they hit Dantooine's atmosphere.  
The TIEs were still pursuing, not far off. They sent a few hopeful shots in the direction of the X-wing, but they strayed wide. When the twisting nose of the ship breached the mesosphere and a vortex of blurry flame formed at the bow, the ship began a serpentine trajectory toward the planet's surface. Artoo couldn't pick up the TIEs with his visual scanning, and that's all that was available considering all other read-outs were no longer functional. The Imperials must have assumed that the pilot was as good as dead, though if they'd known it was none other than Skywalker, perhaps they would have persisted.


	2. 2

From the filtered view of space where planets had a geometrically pleasing curvature and all colors of the natural spectrum had a surreal elegance about them; Dantooine betrayed its onlookers with a significantly different surface.  
In reality, the marble green of Dantooine was a result of the gases in its atmosphere and their reaction with the clouds. The actual surface of the planet's continents were mostly blanketed in a fine olive-colored long grass.  
Over the millennia, Dantooine's surface had been ravaged by earthquakes. Although serene, one would be hard-pressed to find a patch of flat land any larger than a few kilometres square on any of its four sizeable continents. Serrated rock faces framed much of the planet's surface, forming interesting shapes that the human eye would make visual constellations of.  
There were many caverns entrenched by the tools of nature wherever a canyon would make its residence, each of them housing valuable ores and minerals ripe for harvesting. The entrances of these fissures in the cliffs would often be secreted by clusters of trees known as _Blba_ by the settlers that inhabited these regions. They were thick and majestic, with pale brown trunks and foliage that only spawned one season a year. What they lacked in height they compensated with in width, each trunk being anywhere from three to five meters in diameter. They were certainly fat trees, and their branches followed suit yet grew long. Their prickly branches would, over many years, find themselves entangled and merging with those of a fellow tree, creating a thick canopy in some alcoves of the world.  
The _Blba_ trees were not in season, and their contorted but stoutly shapes sat bare along the canyon linings. The dense grassy surface hatching the trunks of the _Blba_ trees usually elevated to a peak the sparser the forestry became, forming rolling hills and a lumpy horizon.  
One such hillside on Dantooine was the current nesting ground of a group of quadrupedal creatures named kath hounds. Left alone they were peaceful creatures, but bothered by intruders they would either become aggressive or skittish – depending on the size of the imposter.  
Any peaceful moment that the crème-furred kath hounds in question may have enjoyed was cut short when the creatures heard a distant rumble from the sky above. The animals looked up, alert and nervous to see a vague shape tumbling from the clouds. It was falling at an alarming rate, and all six of the creatures of varying sizes took some steps backward before bolting from the hillside entirely.

Luke's X-wing was a mangled mess as it plummeted to the ground. Artoo shrieked – most likely at the ship's computer – as he wrestled with any faculties that were available to slow the X-wing's approach. He managed to send the ship's last fumes of power into the repulsorlifts on the underside of the hull, but wouldn't activate them until the ship was essentially scraping the ground.  
When that moment arrived, Artoo engaged the rear repulsorlifts so that the nose of the X-wing tilted up toward the sky before the initial impact. This would hopefully minimize the damage done to the cockpit and ensure Luke's safety. The hanging aft of the craft sent a geyser of dirt and shredded grass blades out from behind it as the vessel roared down the declining gradient in the hillside. When it hit the bottom, the X-wing's mostly incinerated wings began to slice through the tops of the _Blba_ trees, amputating what branches were in the way and throwing them fifty feet into the air. The X-wing left behind it a perfect column of destruction that would extend deep into the clustered forestry. Debris from the ship and pieces of tree threatened to rupture Artoo's durasteel exterior, and there was little involved in his survival other than blind luck. Most of the flying biological carnage would hit his dome and bounce off, but the bigger parts were going to leave a few marks if the little astromech was going to get through this.  
After the barricade of the _Blba_ trees had slowed the X-wing, Artoo engaged the front repulsorlifts before the ship dipped too low and they hit something big, which would have ended things very fast. They hissed when activated but were no louder than the ensuing chaos when the X-wing finally hit something large enough to take a chunk out of the hull and slow it down considerably.  
This impact caused the ship to bounce above the tree canopy and over a forty-foot rock face, bringing the ship back to a softer bedding on the long grass. It slid for another half a klick before finally coming to a comparatively uneventful halt. Artoo's first robotic protocol was to check on the life signs of his master, but he couldn't do that housed in the ship's warped hull. The astromech compartment had buckled inward considerably and was now keeping Artoo from self-ejecting. Employing a buzz saw kept inside a small partition of the droid's front, Artoo cut himself free of the wreckage, and used his own built-in rocket boosters to launch himself upward and out of the craft. He shot through the air as if fired from a cannon and with a thud, landed unceremoniously deep in the long grass. Artoo uttered the droid equivalent of 'phew'.  
The droid rolled around for a bit and transferred weight into various places to get himself upright onto his three supports. Using the motorized all-terrain treads inherent to his model, Artoo rolled over the side of the upright X-wing, searching for any sign of movement inside. There was none.

It took some effort, but once positioned securely topside on the X-wing Artoo was able to pry open the cockpit hatch with various mechanical appendages. There was a hiss as the oxygen inside the cockpit merged with the slightly different combination of gases in Dantooine's atmosphere when the air-tight seal was broken. Luke, clumped in one corner of the cockpit wearing an incandescent orange flightsuit, still hadn't regained consciousness. It became clear to Artoo that no amount of prodding or chirping was going to awaken Luke – whatever had happened to his master was severe.  
Artoo heard some movement brushing in the olive long grass only a few meters away, and he hummed alertly to himself. He swivelled quickly to face the source of the sound, but his sensors only picked up a thick column of _Blba_ trees the X-wing had overflown somewhere behind them in the distance. The droid remained vigilant, and scanned the horizon carefully. The Dantooine sky was by now becoming a rich shade of crimson with sapphire highlights lining the clouds as the planet's twenty-five hour day had struck twilight.  
There was nothing but the humanly calming rustle of long grass; a stark contrast to the booming pandemonium that had preceded it. Artoo's artificial senses would not lie to him however, and the droid was adamant there was something out there. There were life signals blipping away on his radar, and they were in close proximity.  
The reading was correct – but he was searching in the wrong direction. A gargantuan shadow fit for a rancor monster from Dathomir crept over the cockpit of the X-wing. The dying light of Dantooine's dusk that permeated Artoo's banged-up metal shell was swallowed up. Artoo uttered a nervous electronic whimper as his ultraviolet sensors picked up on the change in light, and he spun his dome head around 180 degrees.  
Towering over the downed structure of the X-wing was a mammoth humanoid, closer to the dimensions of a snow beast from Hoth than any man known to Artoo. Scantily clad, the creature had nothing but a single strip of fur hide draped across one shoulder and a loincloth of sorts. It looked as though a severed kath hound tail was fastening the cloth to its waist. The tree-trunk arms of the being secured it to the top of the X-wing, and sluggishly heaved the rest of its mass upward so it could get a good look at Artoo.  
The two came eye to eye. Artoo gathered what information he could, noting that the structure of the intruder's face was mostly human-like. He had a flat face that looked like it'd seen the wrong end of an ionized laminasteel press, shaggy eyebrows that would be home to at least three species of native mite and matching hair to boot.  
"Ooh" the beast rumbled. It lifted chunky finger caked with dirt and guided it toward Artoo's midsection, to which the droid squawked warningly. The bigger of the two chose to persevere regardless, and found himself the recipient of a pinching jolt of plasma energy. A white spark crackled as Artoo's fusion welder, at perfect cheek height of the encroaching behemoth, fizzled away. A warning shot.  
Startled, the beast gasped, first losing his footing and then his balance entirely. An audible thud sounded as he crashed into the long grass.

An immediate databank analysis revealed the tanned humanoid with leathery skin as a member of the Dantari, an indigenous species of Dantooine. Nomads in both culture and appearance, they would travel the grasslands in an everlasting search for food. Exposure to the technology introduced to the planet by farmers and settlers had done nothing to change their ways – the Dantari could only understand these things in principle and not practice. That this specific Dantari was part of a larger tribe was certain, and Artoo was unsure about how other members of the species would react. So far, this Dantari seemed harmless enough.

As the native climbed to his feet and rubbed his brow, Artoo clambered about on top of the X-wing, watching his movements cautiously. Once up, keeping a wary eye on the by-comparison minute droid, he trailed his hand along the beaten side of the ship. Finding the texture sublime as he stroked toward the bow, he let out another 'Ooh', this time more approving. Deducting that the creature would have already smashed him to bits if he'd wanted to, Artoo realized the stranger was more inquisitive than hostile. He clambered further down the topside of the X-wing eventually positioned himself just behind the cockpit hatch.  
When the Dantari reached the nose of the craft, the bright orange of Luke's flightsuit caught his eye. In spite of Artoo's threatening drones, he stretched his arms into the cockpit and wedged them between the seat and Luke's limp body. He attempted to extract Luke from the craft, but the harness prevented him from doing so. With one swift tug and firm grip, the Dantari was able to tear the harness from its mounts like a weed out of the dirt. He tossed them aside and took every care to remove Luke from the ship safely before placing him gently on the ground. The big humanoid rumbled a sigh as he gave Luke a couple of nudges in the gut with his fist. Artoo had dropped down from the ship and came to his master's side, electronic words of warning whistling off in the Dantari's direction.  
When Artoo felt confident enough that the creature wouldn't attack him, he tilted over Luke slightly, examining his life signs.  
He was alive – out cold – but alive. Artoo tried mentioning this to the Dantari, as little good as he thought it would do, and to his surprise the native responded. He patted his chest, which produced a tremendous smacking sound, and said with a guttural tone,  
"Duuruk."  
The droid tilted upright to face him.  
"Duuruk," he said again. He appeared to wait for Artoo's acknowledgement, and the droid obliged with a chirp. He at least understood 'Duuruk' as the Dantari's name. _  
_"Ukka. Uhmu ukka" he said next.  
The language was primitive. Whatever this creature was saying – he was pointing into the distance, where nothing but a vast landscape of rolling plains awaited.  
It was unclear whether this simple-minded individual, or one of his kind, would have the sympathy or know-how to help resuscitate Master Luke, but alas; what choice was there.

Artoo-Deetoo submitted, rolling forward a notch into the openness with a chirp of affirmation to his newfound companion. A satisfied grunt came out of Duuruk and he leaned down to Luke, sliding a hand under his torso. He propped the human up onto his shoulders and held him there securely with the same arm while his legs dangled about. He rose to a standing position and grunted at Artoo to follow his lead.

The spiralling neon blue tube of hyperspace travel was a sight to behold even for those who were accustomed to it. Ever-twisting clouds of blue hues whirled around the _Zurillion VII_ as the bone-shaped cruiser travelled at point-four past lightspeed. The tool of interstellar travel had existed long before the dawn of most civilizations in the galaxy had even begun, and it was inarguably the most pivotal reason why star systems had been able to flourish technologically.  
It had made for a smaller galaxy, and because it was unable to accommodate the hunger for undisputed galactic rule, there had been galaxy-wide warfare for about as long as there existed hyperdrive engines.  
A pressurized doorway slid into its upward compartment as if it weighed nothing, and Princess Leia stood in the exterior corridor with her Iridonian Zabrak guard. A following of armed Rebel troops came next, filling up the corridor fast.  
Leia entered the cavity deliberate and slow to look upon the Imperial prisoners. It was more a chamber than room, a large but cluttered space as far aft of the ship as was accessible from the inside. The inside was dim, only lit by a few ceiling panels and some status readouts here and there. As it was located directly in front of the main reactor, not far from the sublight engines, there was a grinding drone not present in the other parts of the ship interior. In reality, the sublight maintenance chambers were never intended to be used for the purposes of transporting prisoners, but it was only in more recent years the Rebellion had found itself in this position. The old security holds had been repurposed to account for the extra crewmembers aboard the ship and would perhaps now be _too_ hospitable for the likes of Imperial guests.  
The smell of the chamber was an unregulated concoction of grease and ion-turbine coolant, but the faintest hint of burning fuels was the most unwelcome scent as Leia walked further inside.  
The engineering deck was littered with open panels leaking transmission wire, conduits and fuel pipelines, but although the ship seemed to be under constant repair, it was just the balancing act of maximizing the ship's spacetravel efficiency. The case was no different here.  
Leia looked over to her left and saw the first two, lower-ranked officers boxed inside a crimson-shimmering force-field. They brought themselves to the front of the screen with urgency as they saw Leia and her entourage approach, bitter expressions on their faces with tired eyes. She then brought her attention to the other force-field in the room – identical to the first but keeping the prized-catch of Grand Moff Aredis separate from her associates. By now, surely the Imperial pilots would have come to grips with their situation – Aredis had betrayed the Empire.

The dark-skinned woman remained composed in her prison cubicle, unruffled by Leia's approach. Sitting nonchalantly with her arms crossed on an empty duralloy container, she made a simple adjustment to the top of her grey, tight-fitting tunic as the princess approached.  
"Tallo," Leia said to her guard, "Take down the shield."  
The Zabrak said nothing and did as requested, interfacing with a holographic device wrapped around his wrist. With a few beeps, the force-field dissipated. The newly freed Imperial defector decided not to move in spite of this. Instead, she watched the Rebel troops all point blaster pistols in her general direction. Leia walked toward Aredis, crossing her arms and matching the woman's pose. "Please," Leia said, "Come with me."  
Making no sudden movements, Aredis lowered her arms and approached Leia. The crescent of Rebel troops encircled the two as they made their way out of the chamber. The Imperial pilots trapped behind the remaining force-field stared holes into the traitor as she walked by. She did not return the gesture.

Aredis was seated in a much more hospitable environment when they reached their destination on the other side of the _Zurillion VII_. The sterile white of the walls was a shock to her eyes, coming from such a darker place beforehand. As Tallo closed the door from the outside and left them be, Leia decided to remain standing. Unlike the mugginess of the maintenance chamber, the stateroom had a fresh coolness about its air. Holographic memorabilia of the now-destroyed planet of Alderaan had been tastefully implemented into the room's design. A three-dimensional model of the palace Leia spent a good deal of her childhood in served her with both a warm memory and an unrelenting heartache.  
Leia walked the circumference of the room slowly, taking a moment to compile her words.  
"There's no turning back from this" she finally said. "After we reach the Alliance, the Empire will never again allow you to walk in its domain" Leia said firmly. Aredis narrowed her deep green eyes.  
"And you would let me go?" Aredis asked, surprised.  
"The Empire is destroying itself, it's inevitable now. We don't deal with prisoners like they would. There is always a choice."  
Leia eyed the Imperial Moff, watching her reaction to the statement thoroughly. There was every chance that Aredis was a double-agent, still working for the Empire – regardless of how diplomatic she presented herself. In the history of the Empire, no one of such caliber and authority had ever turned their back on it to join the Alliance; the fact that Aredis was standing on-board a Rebel ship without any restraint –face to face with Princess Leia of all people – was truly a miracle.  
Aredis, contrary to the Imperial stereotype, nodded with an honesty in her eye that said she understood.  
"I've had enough time to reconsider. I've made my decision."  
Leia pressed on.  
"Then perhaps you could offer us a gesture of trust before the next civilian system comes under attack?"  
Aredis stopped and considered.  
"It's rather early in negotiations, your highness."  
"Every care will be taken with you and your Imperial friends here. You have my word."  
Leia took a brisk step forward, but Aredis remained calm and composed. "Countless civilians have lost their lives for defying the Empire and declaring their independence – you know this. Ord Canfre lies in ruins as we speak. Can you say nothing?"  
Aredis absorbed the words, then sighed and turned to face away from Leia.  
"Patience, your highness… You'll have your answers soon enough. We can talk further when I meet with the rest of your Alliance friends."  
The words were not delivered with antagonism, but calmness. It was ironic to Leia that the woman could speak with such an imperturbable tone, for inner workings of her feelings said otherwise.  
"You're afraid" Leia said. She sat down at the stateroom table and swiped the projection away with a hand movement so it turned plain white. Aredis shifted in her seat.  
"Afraid, you say, your highness?"  
"I can feel it" Leia responded, adamant.

The Force could often act as a vignette into one's mind. While Leia had only begun to grasp the abilities granted to her by her bloodline, there was an ever-present awareness – a _knowing_ , that would fill her thoughts from time to time.  
It was a gift that very few believed in; that most would question with a quizzical look whenever the myth of the Force was mentioned. Conversely, since discovering her new instincts, Leia had never questioned them. She often pondered whether or not they had always been there. Perhaps it was just that her brother, Luke, had been able to awaken the gift of the Force within her and turn it into something more tangible – something she could call upon. She didn't know how Aredis would react – only that there was conflict behind those frosty emerald eyes.  
Aredis indeed looked quizzical.  
"Of course, your feelings are your prerogative, your highness. My thoughts on the matter are clear" she said, unperturbed. Leia remained unconvinced.  
"I hope, for your sake and ours, that your thoughts on the matter are clear indeed."


End file.
